Trick or Treat Night

We had such a fun Halloween! It started off with an 8am therapy session for Lainey and they got to wear costumes. She was the cutest little kitty cat.

Then we rushed over to Cambry's school to make it in time for the costume parade. I love seeing all the kids dressed up. Even Cambry's teachers went all out. Later in the day they had their Halloween party in class. I brought rice krispie treat pumpkins for their snack. They didn't quite turn out like Pinterest but whatevs.

After dinner we met our neighbors outside and walked around trick-or-treating with them. We have princess Rapunzel, a pretty kitty, and Waldo.

Where did he go?

There were a lot of houses that went all out with the Halloween decorations. I think we encountered 3 different houses with dry ice and we only made it down 2 streets! We had a great time and came home with tons of candy.

Birthday Buddies

On October 21 we celebrated Lainey's and Colton's birthdays! Cambry had school so we dropped her off and then came home to let Colton take a quick nap. He ended up not going to sleep so we headed over to the Children's museum. I love that it is so close and easy to get to. Colton loved pushing the shopping carts around and Lainey loved playing in the little house with a play kitchen. Actually she loves everything there and runs around going from one thing to the next.

After that we came home and had a quick lunch. Then they both napped before we picked up Cambry from school. Later when Greg got home from work we went to IHOP for dinner.Pancakes are one of Lainey's favorite. She can eat a TON. And she definitely enjoyed her IHOP pancakes. Colton even ate some too.

After dinner we came back home to have them open their gifts. Lainey loved her new stroller (and sissy did too!) and Colton liked his truck.

We followed that up with birthday cake. I made them each a small cake. Colton's was for him to smash and we all shared Lainey's cake. Colton was hilarious with his cake. First he put his hands in it and took a few licks. When he discovered how delicious the icing was he just went face first for little nibbles. It was precious. After doing that for a while and exploring with his hands more he finally had enough and cried from all the mess. He takes after Camrby.

Lainey loved her cake too! It was a good day.

Lainey 3 Years

Lainey girl is 3! When I look back at her baby and toddler pictures I can't believe how much she has grown and changed.

birth day

6 months

12 months

18 months

2 years

2.5 years

3 yearrs

You are our curious, busy, affectionate, social, determined, and sweet little girl.

You enjoy playing outside, taking selfies, playing with baby dolls (pushing them in strollers, changing their clothes, pretending to feed them bottles), watching tv or "pad", being in any kind of child care setting, playing with water, dancing to music or listing to songs, being tickled, wrestling, putting random clothes and items on, getting anything out of it's place, and pointing things out in books, 

You do not enjoy cleaning up, sitting still listening to a book read page by page, vegetables, the vacuum cleaner, or when Colton tries to take your toys.

In the last few months you have made some major progress with your speech. You are trying to communicate so much. You have lots and lots of single words. Like maybe 50-75. Many are not super clear and other people may not understand them, but we do. We still don't always know what you want but it has gotten a lot easier lately and there have been less tears of frustration. You know many body parts, animals, foods, toys, house hold objects, and a lot of other things. You just started private ST in the Woodlands a few weeks ago and you go once a week. You are also getting ST through the elementary school twice a week which started this week. We hope and pray you will continue to make progress. You are a hard worker and are you have a great inner motivation.

You still take a nap everyday around 12 or 1pm. You go to bed between 7:30 and 8 and wake up around 7:30. You are a great sleeper! You have to sleep with your blankie (which you have really developed a love for), bear, a baby doll or 2, and usually a book.

We still have never cut your hair because you have the most beautiful curls at the ends and I am scared of cutting them off.

We love you so much Lainey bear. You give the best hugs, you love your big sister and little brother, and you always keep us on our toes. Happy 3rd birthday sweet girl!

Colton 12 Months

Happy birthday, baby boy! You have grown into the most adorable 1 year old. Look at all that hair.

 I can't believe you started out like this. It is amazing how much change takes place in a year.

Colton Brooks you are 1 year old!! It seems like we have had you for much longer than a year and at the same time it has gone so fast. You have the cutest, sweetest smile and laugh. I love your scrunchy fuss face, your beaming proud face, your 2 little bottom teeth that are always showing, and every other thing about you. You make the cutest baby sounds. I am so glad we have a BOY!

Size: At your 1 year check up you weighed 20 lbs 1 oz (29%) and you were 30.25 in tall (65%). You wear mostly 12 month clothes. I still can't believe how slim you are considering you started out as a 9 pounder.

Eat: You still nurse quite often. Probably 5 times a day or more. You are very picky with foods. I think you are trying to compete against your sisters to see if you can take the pickiest eater award and so far you are winning. We always know that you are done eating when you start slamming the tray and slapping the spoon. You eat purees as long as they are not too cold and do not contain many veggies. Yogurt is still your favorite. We offer you small bites of whatever we are eating but usually you spit it out. In the past couple days however, you have started to try a few new things so maybe your taste buds are warming up. Just this week you tried cow's milk and you like if it is warm.

Sleep: You have been sleeping through the night more lately, but there are still nights you wake up. If I go in there and try to lay you back down without nursing you, you are ANGRY. If Greg goes in there to rock you then you are even angrier. Like, WHAT? YOU SENT HIM?! HE DOESN'T HAVE THE MILK! If you wake up in the 5's I nurse you and you go back to sleep. Otherwise you wake up around between 6:30 and 7am. You take 2 naps a day unless the first one is really late and long. You go to bed between 7:30 and 8.

Likes/Dislikes: You do not like getting dressed. Sometimes it is an all out wrestling match. You like to get into the dishwasher and pull out all the utensils. You love grabbing whatever Cambry and Lainey are playing with. You love drinking out of sippy cups, especially your sisters'. You like push toys and balls a lot. Tickling you or chasing you or making silly faces and noises makes you laugh so hard. 

Skills: You have started taking steps!! It just happened a couple weeks ago when you took your first step. Now you can take 4 or 5 on your own. I know you will be full out walking soon. It is the cutest thing and it makes you feel so proud. You can say mama, dada, ball, more (sounds like ma), and ish (for gold fish). You like to try to copy us when we sneeze. We are already seeing some athletic skills with your ball throwing back and forth.

We did get your hair trimmed last week although I think we are the only people who can tell! I was not feeling very brave and the hair stylist threatened that all of the awesome fluffiness/texture would go away once the baby hair was cut off clean. So basically she just cleaned up the edges and thinned it out over the ears and on top and trimmed the swoops a little. Not really sure where we should go from here. When we picked you up from church nursery last Sunday you had a barrette holding back your bangs. Yikes.

Well, happy birthday Colton Brooks. It has been a joyful year with you. I can't wait to see how you grow this next year.